The Third Industrial Revolution: a positive leap for humanity

So Jeremy Rifkin has amounted significant evidence to suggest that humanity is in transition to the Third Industrial revolution, it is without doubt the most dangerous transition in that we're essentially moving out of the look after number one fossil fuel era into a new paradigm of clean energy and material abundance.

History has taught us that industrial revolutions require three technological breakthroughs in order to manifest: communication, energy and transport.

The first industrial revolution was brought about by:
communication - the printing press
energy - the coal powered steam engine
transport - locomotives / the rail network

The second industrial revolution:
commiunication - the telephone
energy - fossil fuels, gas, coal, oil, nuclear
transport - the road network / cars trucks

The third industrial revolution:
communication - the internet
energy - renewable clean sources / solar, wind, geothermal, hydro
transport - ships, cars, trucks, trains powered by renewable clean energy

Currently were have about one foot in the third industrial revolutions arena, but for obvious reasons are firmly stuck in the second, the existing self promoting power structures will continue to make the transition extremely difficult.

I suppose you could describe Jeremy Rifkin as a capitalist (kind of free market supporter) with an activist mind set. His achievements are quite immense. This guy has and does advise world leaders around the globe. He is working closely with Angela Merkel and Chinas supremo's on methods to implement the transition into a third industrial revolution era.


Source: thethirdindustrialrevolution.com

He is, they are and he does. He is worth listening to.

Some people also believe that a technological singularity (worth googling) is just around the corner. We should expect a great leap forward soon, And yes, we have to adopt alternative energy sources right away before we destroy our planet or waste non-renewable resources that we may have a different use for in the future.

One thing I'd add. The first industrial revolution (although the 'causes' were many) was spurred on by land enclosure and rural starvation, plus the 'French Wars' plus other conflicts. The second was spurred on by Socialism, education, the World Wars and massive improvements in health and life expectancy. We still need to see the extra 'factor x' that will push the next one. Now the cure for cancer seems to just round the corner and the population boom in the developing world is terrifyingly fast, we are still waiting for the next thing to push it. We should all hope and pray it won't be a devastating war.

Rifkin for me has stacks of credibility, he's a big achiever, i really like his proactive approach to activism in that he's using capitalism (in a way) to assist (drive even) the transition. Its more realistic than most other activist visions tend to be.

Who's heard of Uber driving? i only came across this fairly recently and this is an excellent example of how technology is making the traditional taxi obsolete. Anybody with a car and a smart phone can basically start earning as a taxi driver.

There is Uber (and one or two other alternatives) in Warsaw. Cheaper than normal taxis, however I can understand why drivers who've paid for taxi licences are upset.

It is a sign of the way things are changing though and we can expect more of this. As with the previous industrial revolutions, there will be winners and losers.

check this out, Wroclaw Boy! I will be following this experiment:
independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutch-city-of-utrecht-to-experiment-with-a-universal-unconditional-income-10345595.htm

Yeah will be interesting to see how the universal basic income plays out. Something major has to change for sure.

Here is the Rifkin presentation if anybody's interested:

youtube.com/watch?v=naXLMlqlxdo